The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-05-04

fruits ye shall know them.'h Bad societies
| make bad men. Good societies make goot
men. A bad man will not stay in good so
ciety. & good man will not stay in bad so
cleJy. 1nen Try all secret societies by TWO Of
three rules.
Test the first: Their influence on home, i
you have home That wife soon loses bel
Influence over her husband who nervouslL
and foolishly looks upon all evening absenct
as an assault on domeSticity. How are tht
great enterprises Of reform. and art, and lit
erature, and benefcence and public veal to be
carried on If every man is to have bis
world bounded on one side by his front door
STEP and on the other side by his back win
dow, knowing nothing higher than his OWE
att;a, or lower than his own cellara That
wife who becomes jealous Of her husbands
charity is breaking her own sceptre Of con
jugal power. I know an instance where 6
wife thought that her husband was
giving too many nights to Chris
t1an service, to charitable service, to
prayer-meetings, and to religious convoca.
tion. She Systematically decoyed him away
until now he attends no church, waits upon
no charitable institution, and is on rapid
way to destruction, his morals gone, his
any Christian wife rejoice when her husband
consecrates evenings to the service of human
ity, and of God, or charity, OF art, or any
thing elevating.
But let no man sacrifice home life to secret
society life, as many do. I can point out to
you a great many names of men who are
guilty of this sacrilege. They are as genial
as angels at the society room, and as
ugly as sin at home. They are generous On
fast horses, but they are stingy about the
wives dresses and the children's shoes. That
man has made that which might be a health
full influence, usurper of his affections, and
he has married it. and he is gIlItv of moral
Digamy. Under this process, the wife, what
ever her features, becomes uninteresting
and homely. He becomes critical of
her, does not like the dress, does
not like the way she arranges
her hair, is amazed that he ever was so un-
romantic as to offer her hand and heart
always involves domestic shipwreck Tell
me that man has joined certain kind, and
tell me nothing more about him for ten years,
and will write his history if he be still alive
The man is a wine guzzler, his wife
broken-hearted or prematurely old, his
fortune gone or reduced, and his
home mere uame in directory.
Here are six secular nights in the week.
:'What shall do with them ~ says the father
nights to the improvement and entertainment
Of my family, either at homo or in good
neighborhood. I will devote one to chari-
table institutions. I will devote one to my
lodge"
I congratulate you Here is a man who
says: "Out Of the six secular nights Of the
week will devote five to lodges and clubs
and associations and one to the home, which
night will spend in scowling like March
II
have spent the other five nights" That mans
obituary is written. Not one out of 10000
that ever gets so far on the wrong road
ever stops. Gradually his health will fail
through late hours and through too much
stimulants he will be first-rate prey for cry
sipelas and rheumatism of the heart. The
doctor coming in will at glance see it is not
only present disease he must fight, but
years Of fast living. The clergyman, for
family, on the funeral day will only talk in
yacht in the eternal rapids will not be at the
obsequies They have pressing engagements
that day. They will send flowers to the coffin,
will send their wives to utter words of SYM
pathy, but they will have engagements else
where. They never come. Bring me mallet
and chisel, and I will cut on the tombstone
that mans epitaph: Blessed are the dead
who die in the Lord" "No," you say, "that
would not be appropriate" "Let me die the
like his" "No," you say, "that would not
be appropriate" Then give me the mallet
and the chisel and will cut an honest cpl
,taph: "Here lies the victim of dissipating
associations"
Another test by which you can find whether
your secret society is right or wrong is the
effect it has upon your secular occupation.
can understand how through such an institu-
tion man can reach commercial success.
know some men have formed their best bust
ness relations through such channel. II the
secret society has advantaged you in an hon
orable calling it is a good one. But
has your credit failedl Are bargain makers
more anxious how they trust you with bale
of goods! Have the men whose name were
down in the commercial agency A |, before
they entered the society, been going down
since in commercial standing! Then look out
You and every day know Of commercial
establishments going to ruin through the
social excesses Of one or two members, their
fortune beaten to death with ball players
bat, or cut amidShips with the PROV CT the
regatta, OF, going down under the swift hoofs
of the fast horses, or drowned in the large po-
tations Of Cognac or Monongahela- That se-
cret society was the Loeb Earn. Tha business
was the Vile de Havre. They struck and the
Vile de Havre went under!'
The third test by which you may know
whether the soiety to which you belong is
good or bad is this: What is its effect on your
sense Of moral and religious obligation? Now,
if I should take the names Of all the people in
this audience this morning and put them
on a roll, and then l should lay that
roll back of this organ, and
hundred years from now some one should
take that roll and call it from A to there
would not one Of you answer. say that any
society that makes me forget that fact is a
bad society. When 60 to Chicago I am
somewhat perplexed at Buffalo, as + suppose
many travellers are, as to whether it is
better to take the Lake Shore route
or the Michigan Central, equally expeditions
and equally safe, getting to their destination
at the same time. But suppose that I hear
that on one route the track is torn up, the
bridges are down and the switches are I'M
locked, it will not take me great while to
decide which road to take. Now, there are
two roads in the future-the Christian and
the Christian the safe and the unsafe ANY
institution or any association that confuses
my ideas in regard to that fact is a bad insti
tuition and bad association. l had prayers
before joined that society, did have them
afterward! / attended the house Of God be-
fore connected myself with that union, do /
absent myself from religious inf1uencesl
Which would you rather have in your
hand when you come to die-a pack
Of cards. or a Bible9 Which would
you rather have pressed to your lips in the
closing moment-the cup Of Belshazzarean
wassafl or the chaice Of Christian commun-
iona Who would you rather have for your
pail bearers-the elders of a Christian church,
or the companions whose conversation was
full Of slang and innuendo' Who would you
rather have for your eternal companions
those men who spend their evenings
betting gambling, swearing, carousing
and telling vile stories, or your little